Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I wish I could get a better picture of this one! Shorter days and lack of daylight are the worst part of Winter.

Here is my take on Sketch #61 from Sketches in Thyme. I added a little bit of jute here and there. The border at the bottom is this really cool bandana ribbon, a strip of denim paper and a bunch of gold brads. The paper in the center is kraft paper that I distressed and inked. And then I added some random cowboy stickers. I didn't realize I had started a "collection" of them...lol.

Time to gear up for December....lots of shopping and decorating to do!

Gotta love when you can post things on your lunch break! I figured I would have to take my pages to work and snap pictures during break in order to get good ones.It is soo depressing leaving the house in the morning when it's dark and getting home when it's dark. This is the worst part about Winter.

Well, here is my attempt at a pretty sketch from Burlaps and Buttercups. I used My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2 collection. We had to use two different border punches also. I only have 3! But I have been scouting them out and adding different styles to my Christmas Wish List. :)I also added a few brads from the same collection. The letters are Thickers inked with pewter. I would really love to go back and see these Falls during the Fall. I heard the colors are AMAZING!

My second page is for sketch #183 from Creative Scrappers. I had to flip it to work with my pictures. My little guy was so happy in these pictures! I cannot believe after once around the track, he insisted on riding with his hands in the air! I'm such a sissy when it comes to coasters...lol. He must have inherited that from the other side of the family. LOL!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

You have no idea how excited I am! The carpet installers are just about finished and I finished another layout!! WOHOO!!

Here is my take on sketch #184 from Creative Scrappers. I used the November 25th challenge from My Scraps and More to scrap my daughter's school picture. The big title was a chipboard piece from Crate Paper. And the fun stars are from Michael's.

I also went waaay out of my comfort zone and used my newest tool...The Sew Easy stitching tool from We R Memory Keepers. It's "sew" much easier than I thought it would be! I used the nifty little tool to pre-punch the holes on the circle and then I hand stitched it. It actually took me less than 10 minutes to do the whole thing....and that included breaking out the circle cutter!

So now I feel comfortable enough to use this for the stitching challenge from ScrapFit. :)

I need a little more practice before I try the other stitching styles that came in the package. But it's a start! No more faux stitching for me! :)

It feels like I lost a whole week! What happened?? I cannot believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already.

Between working on the house, family issues and crazy work schedules, I feel like I'm in a time warp.

Today I took a vacation day because the carpet installers are FINALLY coming to work on the stairs! It's been 3 long years and we are finally in a position where we can do this the right way. We had some work to do on the wall, replace some trim and work on the damaged floor underneath the old carpet. I feel like my house has been in shambles forever!

Anyway...I had finished up these pages a few days ago and just never had a chance to post them. I miss my scrap corner!!

These are a few more inspiration challenges from My Scraps and More. I thought I was almost caught up...and then chaos ensued.

Hopefully, once the carpet is done I will have some extra time to work on projects.

Sketch challenge #14 from My Scraps and More went with challenge #14 - use 5 different manufacturers. I went with Lasting Impressions - Joann's custom kit - Recollections - Me and My Big Ideas - Colorbok.

Love these fun banners from Sassafrass Lass! So fun! I added some fibers to "tie" it all together. The sketch is from My Sketch World. And the My Scraps and More challenge was to use your favorite shape and the title "Good Times".And Scrap Whispers challenge #107 was a sketch that I used with the quote challenge from My Scraps and More. Are these owls adorable or what? They are from a chipboard set from My Mind's Eye. The guys haven't called yet and I'm starting to lose patience...I know the minute I pull stuff out to work on, they will show up. GRRR!!!!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

I would like to say how Thankful I am for so many wonderful online friends! I am Thankful that I can share in this wonderful hobby, creating memories for our families. I am Thankful that we can all share our thoughts, creativity and inspiration. I am blessed to have you all in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving and love to you all!!

I am so happy and Thankful that I am going to be spending the day with my family!!!

I cannot wait!!! The clock just isn't moving fast enough for me.

But before I go, I wanted to share my latest pages.

I am Thankful that I have had the time to enjoy the challenges at My Scraps and More. This has been one heck of a month! Everyday, I am forced to really think about what I am thankful for and then save that memory.

The November 9th challenge was to scrap about yourself. As hard as I try to be in pictures, it just doesn't happen that often. I dug through the archives for this one. It worked perfectly for the Technically Inclined challenge from ScrapFit. I should take a picture of myself with my Iphone...since it's always attached to my hand! The sketch is #247 from Sketch Inspiration. :)

November 22nd was to use 3 different colored flowers. I love this collection from Crate Paper. The bright colors against the gray was gorgeous! Burlaps and Buttercups challenged us to use gray and yellow. PERFECT collection to use!

And now that I have to get moving and work on the appetizers, I have one more to post. I used the November sketch from Imaginisce and their Happy Harvest collection. Adorable little critters! This works for the November 21st challenge from My Scraps and More....Family Time. These are my kids and my nieces on a family trip to the Arboretum. :)Anyone up for some crab dip? And I'm trying a new Buffalo Chicken dip also. Guess I better break out the recipe and get moving!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

I'm off today to start my Christmas Shopping! That sounds so crazy! I swear last month we were just at the beach...and now I see Christmas lights already.

I wanted to post these pages before I left. Daylight for me is so scarce. I know it seems like I did all these pages really quick, but I work on a little bit every night. I can only take pictures once a week. So my weekend posts are always photo heavy. But then again, once the mojo kicks in, everything falls into place and they do come together pretty quickly.

This one is from Jillibean Soup. I absolutely ADORE the Apple Cheddar line! I first had my hands on in from an Artful Delight kit and i used every. last. scrap. So I had run out and buy more of course! And Jillibean offered a sketch too! :)

I've been having fun with my new score board, but not so much with the hot glue gun.Sketches in Thyme #60 called for me to break out the snaps/eyelets. I haven't used these in a long time. I forgot how much fun (and work) they can be.Okay....got my lists....got my coffee...wish me luck...I hope the crowds aren't too crazy yet!

This week at Lasting Memories we were offered 3 different inspirational photos to work from. These pictures are all gorgeous!! Check them out here!

I saw this photo and couldn't believe my luck. I just bought a ton of goodies from the My Mind's Eye line called Lost and Found 2. The colors were perfect! So glad I bought all the fun matching brads too. :)

I used the quote from the challenge from Show Us Your Stuff. It was printed on vellum and inked in pewter.

The sketch is from Sketchabilities #59. I love using up all these smaller photos from the kids photo packages. I have lots and it's hard to get rid of them, but even harder to just hold on to them. Sketches like this are great!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Gotta do this one quickly! We are off to the zoo to decorate our Community Christmas Tree! YAY! And it looks like the rain is going to hold off just long enough...i hope!!!

LOTS of sketchy fun this week!! I am so grateful to have so many fun sites that inspire me to scrap my pictures!!

Sketches in Thyme #59: Lots of bits and pieces from the older stash. :) I even broke out some rubons!

My Scraps and More #13: I LOVE these fun baseball borders!!! I cut one down to make a banner at the top of the page. And I bought TONS of this White Sox paper too. I anticipate going to lots more games!Sketch Inspiration #246: hee hee....I'll take any kind of photo op! My kids are such willing "victims".

Sketchy Thursdays: My favorite! I misted the background paper and added some rubon text. The "border" underneath the picture is actually 1/2 inch squares from the original photos that were trimmed off. No waste....I used these photos for Frosted Designs sketch #28 and The Paper Variety challenge which was to use the word "thanks" and "thankful". So many different textures...burlap, mesh, leaves, chipboard, ...sigh....I love my stash. It seems to have everything. :)Oh boy! Am I running late!! Have a great day!!!

I really wish I could get a better picture of this layout. The sunlight has been scarce when I'm home. By the time I get home, it's already dark. I tried to adjust it, but....oh well....you get the gist of it. :)

I used Coredinations papers and hand cut all the leaves. Then they were embossed and sanded. The whole photo mat and frame are Coredinations papers also. I broke out the eyelet stash and threaded some twine through some of them.

I hope you find time to be inspired by this week's photo. Check out the Paper Lovin' Gals DT projects also! And don't forget....this week there is a prize! We hope you will play along!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I had another day off this week, so I figured I would do a little more organizing. While I had everything all over the place, I found these really pretty brown and orange flowers. I think I bought them on clearance last season. I was totally inspired to work on some Autumn pages.

And second page is for sketch #182 from Creative Scrappers. I used another doily, a few more strips of cork and more jute. Gotta love days with no work and cleaning the stash and finding new goodies!~ :)

Creative Scrappers sketch #181. I didn't realize how many pictures I have of reptiles! Holy snake skin! I have at least a dozen or two more!And Sketchabilities sketch #58. I really wish this peacock would have spread his feathers for me. I love how this turned out. Bling, inked doilies, flowers, rhinestone swirls....

This week we challenge you to use some hidden journaling on your project. There are some pretty creative ideas from the Design Team on our blog....just saying...you might want to check it out....here....Lasting Memories. :)

Last week I had purged my stash and got rid of a bunch of older stuff. I hate doing that because I always feel that I bought it for a reason and I should use it....

But waaay back then, it was always about buying the latest and greatest...whether you used it or not. If it was pretty or cool, you had to have it!

Well, those days are gone. I ran out of room and had to let go of some oldies but goodies.'

For my hidden journaling, I simply put a cute sentiment on a chipboard tag. This tag slips in behind the photo. I attached some fun lace and fibers and a few flowers to dress it up.

These papers are from about 6 years ago from Heidi Grace. Maybe even longer...who knows anymore. I always loved these colors!

I saw the color challenge from Scrap Whispers and knew right where to go. Sometimes, cleaning out the stash is a good thing....at least I got organized...lol

And this gorgeous sketch is from Stuck On U Sketches. Nanne is so good at coming up with beautiful sketches!

I handcut a scalloped circle and inked it to death. All of the flowers are from the stash (which just couldn't be purged!) And the chipboard swirls are from the same Heidi Grace set. I gotta love that I held on to this older collection AND used it! Finally!

Friday, November 11, 2011

I am still loving random days off! I have so much vacation time left and I am going to enjoy every minute of it all.

I went shopping and stocked up on cardstock and adhesives, so I should be all set for the yucky winter days to come.

Oh, and I have TONS of pictures that came yesterday and I'm waiting on another batch. :)

So my first of MANY layouts I hope to finish this weekend...is sketch #245 from Sketch Inspiration. This is a really fun site and the sketches are always fun to play along with. The really need a boost to the site, so make sure you check them out!

I used a fun kit from Echo Park called Walk in the Park. :)

Let's Capture These Sketches #106 was also a fun sketch. I LOVE my new border punch. I'm still getting used to it, so please excuse the "mistakes".

Then we have sketch #107 from Let's Capture These Sketches. Lots of distressing on these scraps. The brads are from My Mind's Eye. Everything else is from the box of Fall goodies. I just love when I can grab anything and it works with the page. It really helps with the "leftovers" from all the different kits.

I'm also entering this page for the FAMILY challenge at The Paper Variety. :)

Does anything here look familiar? Yep...these are still more bits and pieces from an Artful Delight kit! I pulled these out to work on the November sketch from the same site. Some of the elements are from DCWV and the buttons are from my button hoard. I love adding jute to all my Fall layouts. I need to get more burlap....

Now I think I'm going to finally eat lunch and see what else I can work on tonight. :)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

It's time to reveal Challenge #5 from Paper Lovin' Gals. This LOVE banner is so adorable! I only wish I had a white picket fence.

Oh wait! I do! I had this fun little piece in my stash that was from a kit I bought a long time ago. This was so fun to finally use.

I figured I might as well get started on Winter pictures. It's getting colder and harder to ignore the fact that Winter is here. I thought if I started remembering the fun we had last year, I won't be so against it coming....

HOLY COW!! The doorbell just rang!! It was a delivery of more pictures!!! YAY!!!! Happy weekend to me!!!!

Anyway....lol....

So I strung up some fun dark green fuzzy fibers and added some pretty poinsettia stickers. I love how this turned out. I guess snow isn't so bad after all....

Gotta go check out the new pictures!!

And hey! Don't forget to visit Paper Lovin' Gals to see what the rest of the Design Team created! You won't want to miss out on some great talent!

And here is my take on a sketch from My Creative Sketches. This is my first time playing and it looks like it could be a fun place to hang out.

This is also for the Humorous challenge from The Paper Variety. The picture is of my daughter and her best friend playing goofy dress up. Love the hair! LOL!Have a great evening! It's time to relax a little more with some yummy hot chocolate...mmmm...